Lehigh Tops Holy Cross 52-43

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Adrienne Blout and Alex Ross scored 12 points each to lead the Lehigh women's basketball team past Holy Cross, 52-43 in its last regular season game Saturday at Stabler Arena. The Crusaders end the regular season 12-17 overall and 7-7 in the conference while the Mountain Hawks finish 10-18 overall and 5-9 in the league.

Kaitlin Foley (Albany, N.Y.) led the Crusaders with 11 points and five rebounds shooting five of eight from the field while Bethany O'Dell (Lincoln, R.I.) also scored 11 points, had six boards and two steals. Kathy Gruzynski (Elk Grove, Ill.) matched her career-high of nine points and freshman Christy Cushnie added four assists.

Lehigh jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first few minutes of the game, but freshman guard O'Dell came back hitting one from the long range and two from the line to tie it at five just minutes later. The Mountain Hawks then went on an 11-5 streak to take a six point lead (16-10) with just under 8:27 to go in the first half. Holy Cross retaliated with six unanswered points to tie it again at 16 (5:03). In the last few minutes of the first half Lehigh scored 8-5 to go into the break with a three point advantage (24-21).

Lehigh went 10-8 to keep the lead in the first five minutes of the second half (34-29) and followed up with eight unanswered points to go ahead by 13 points (42-29) at 11:21.Holy Cross outscored Lehigh in the next few minutes 8-4 to cut the lead to nine (46-37) with just under five minutes left in the second half. In the streak sophomore Gruzynski and freshman O'Dell each had three. The Mountain Hawks held on to the lead to win the game by nine, 52-43.

The third seeded Crusaders will travel to Annapolis to play the sixth seeded Lafayette in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal, Saturday March 3 at 6:30 p.m.

Visit http://patriotleague.cstv.com/ot/championships/w-baskbl-0607-champs.html for the Patriot League Women's Basketball Tournament Page.

College of the Holy CrossDepartment of Athletics 1 College Street Worcester, MA 01610